Advertisement

NYC Rapper Provides Phish Tribute Ahead Of ‘Baker’s Dozen’

Jul 21, 2017

6:47 am PDT

Scott Bernstein

Advertisement

On January 31 Phish confirmed rumors that had spread among fans for months with the announcement of a 13-show “Baker’s Dozen” residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Tonight, all these months later, the “Baker’s Dozen” run begins following five Phish shows that were anything but a warmup. Rapper Boy Pierce is among the Phish fans whose excitement is through the roof and he put his talents and enthusiasm to work in creating an incredibly cool tribute to the Vermont jam quartet.

In honor of Phish and The Baker’s Dozen, here is a tribute I made. I first heard Phish when I was in middle school. My older brother acquired the Hoist tape and played it daily in my Mom’s car, on our way to school, and then later on our way home. I had never heard anything like it in my life. I loved Down With Disease. And Sample In A Jar. And Wolfman’s Brother. A few years later we went to The Wall (a store that sold CDs) and got Billy Breathes on the day it came out. Years later, in high school, my brother took me to my first show. And in 2009 I went to the Miami NYE show with my brother and his friends, and it was one of the best nights of my life. We were the first car in the lot, literally. We saw it build gradually throughout the day, listening to the Phoenix album that had recently come out and eating Cuban sandwiches and drinking beer. When we entered, American Airlines Arena had the aura of a basketball championship game. High fives with strangers. Loud clapping. Yelling. AC/DC Bag was the opener. Insane. Bathtub Gin. The Guyute jam. And set one ended with Julius, fittingly the first Phish song I ever heard in my life, and it was absolute madness. My brother was a few rows back from me during that first set, and I looked up to him in disbelief after set one. We all reconvened in the foyer for discussion and refills, and geared up for sets 2 and 3. I’ll be at four Baker’s Dozen shows. And I’ll be texting set updates to my brother who is living in Florida with his growing family. Cheers to my big bro for the introduction and initiative. And Cheers to Mike and Page and Trey and Fish for a lifetime of music.

Check out “Festival Song” featuring Todd Stoops for a taste of Boy Pierce’s original music: